NewsCzech car production set to reach record 1.2 million this year, says
industry chief

Car production in the Czech Republic looks set to reach a record 1.2
million in 2014 the president of the country’s Automotive Industry
Association, Martin Jahn, said at a regional gathering of carmakers on
Tuesday. That would represent year on year growth of over 6 percent and
would be higher than the growth rate for Europe as a whole. Parts makers in
the Czech Republic should record an even bigger year-on-year increase in
output, said Mr. Jahn. The current record for car production is 1.195
million, registered in 2011.

Social bookmarking

Employees of the Dutch retailer Ahold, which owns the Albert supermarket
chain in the Czech Republic, have won a battle for higher wages. Ahold
representatives agreed to a trade unions demand for a one-off 1,000 crown
bonus in 2016 and an 8.5 percent wage increase in 2017. According to trade
unions the average monthly wage of Albert employees is 12,500 crowns, Ahold
claims it is 3,000 crowns higher. The wage dispute had dragged for some
time and Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka recently intervened on the
behalf of Czech employees. Ahold employs some 17,000 people in the Czech
Republic.

The Czech Education Ministry has asked the Czech Football Association to
change the logo on the jerseys of the national team’s players. The
national football team selected the two-tailed Czech lion, which appears on
the country’s state emblem, for its logo, but according to the law on
state symbols the team should by right have chosen either the state flag,
the name of the country or the whole emblem which apart from the lion also
depicts a crowned eagle. The national team is vehemently against the idea
of changing the logo, saying it is a protected trademark.

The Czech Republic and Iran are seeking ways to further increase their
growing trade turnover. Following a meeting with the visiting Iranian
Economy Minister Ali Tayebnia, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mladek
said he would like to see bilateral trade increase tenfold in the near
future. Czech exports to Iran increased by 46 percent in the first nine
months of this year and bilateral trade is expected to get a new impetus
with the signing of an agreement on protection of investments between the
two countries scheduled to take place early next year. The Czech Republic
has said it is ready to support Iran’s membership in the World Trade
Organization.

The lower house of Parliament has approved a bill that should introduce a
broad ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants. The government-proposed
legislation was defended by the newly appointed Health Minister Miloslav
Ludvik who said it was a vital step in protecting public health and
particularly that of the young generation which frequently topped the
European ladder in tobacco and alcohol abuse. The draft law caused heated
controversy in the lower house and there were numerous efforts to modify
the ban, such as a rejection of the proposed amendment that would ban
smoking in street cafes or cars with child passengers. The draft
legislation now goes to the Senate. If it wins approval there and is signed
by the president it should come into force in May of next year.

Consumer prices in November increased by 0.3 percent compared to the
previous month, the Czech Statistics Office reported on Friday. This
development was primarily due to a rise in the prices of food and
non-alcoholic beverages. The year-on-year growth in consumer prices
amounted to 1.5 percent, i.e. 0.7 percentage points up on October and the
most since June 2013. Analysts ascribe the higher than expected growth to
the introduction of the law on electronic cash registers ahead of which
many entrepreneurs increased prices to make up for the extra expenditures.
Analysts predict that inflation may thus reach the Czech National Bank’s
target of 2 percent in the first months of 2017.

British singer-songwriter Sting will be the main star of Prague’s
Metronome festival, which will take place in the Czech capital in June, the
festival's organiser Roman Helcl told the Czech News Agency on Friday.
The former frontman of the rock band Police will perform with his
three-member band, including guitarist Dominic Miller. Tickets go on sale
on December 12.

The last round of matches in the Europa League group stage brought mixed
results for the three Czech clubs in the competition. Sparta Prague will
progress out of the group stage despite losing against Inter Milan 1:2 on
Thursday night. Sparta are on 12 points in their group, followed by Hapoel
Beer-Sheva and Southampton. Liberec failed to secure a spot in the next
stage after it went down 0:2 against PAOK Thessaloniki, while Viktoria
Plzeň ends the Europa League competition with a symbolic 3:2 win against
Austria Vienna.

Miroslav Sklenář is set to replace Jiří Forejt in the post of the head
of protocol at Prague Castle, the president’s spokesman Jiří Ovčáček
told the Czech News Agency on Thursday. Mr Forejt stepped down on Monday
after the release of incriminating material which allegedly showed him
snorting an illicit substance, half naked and in dubious company. Miroslav
Sklenář has already worked as head of protocol, first under Václav Havel
and subsequently under Václav Klaus between the years 2014 and 2015. Up
till now, Mr. Sklenář has been employed by the China Energy Company
Limited, a major foreign investor in the Czech Republic.

The European Commission has taken legal action against EU member states,
including the Czech Republic, for not having done enough to deter or punish
carmakers who cheated on emissions tests. The commission has sent a
so-called letter of formal notice to seven member states, which now have
two months to reply. The commission has targeted the Czech Republic for not
having imposed any penalties for the use of illegal software which cheated
the emission tests.